The Artemi Panarin Situation In Columbus Is Starting To Get A Little Weird
The NHL has had a pretty wild offseason so far between a couple of big name trades, some major signings and then, of course, John Tavares leaving the Islanders in free agency to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So with everything else that was going on, the situation building in Columbus with Artemi Panarin was kind of an after thought for the most part this summer. But now that the offseason is slowing down and most teams are pretty set for the summer, Jarmo Kekalainen is next up to have his ass in the jackpot.
In case you don’t know anything about the situation so far, the word is out that Artemi Panarin has no interest in signing a long term deal in Columbus. Now that could be for a number of different things. Some stories are out there that he wants to play in either New York or LA or Florida because his girlfriend/wife wants more modeling opportunities that apparently Columbus, Ohio does not offer. Those stories have been shot down but I’m a believer that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Similar rumors are saying that the guy just wants to live in a nice part of the country. Not saying that Columbus isn’t nice or anything but if you move all the way from Russia to the United States, chances are you don’t want to spend 8 years of your new life in Ohio. And then there’s also always the chance that he doesn’t believe there is enough of a winning culture in Columbus for him to commit to playing there long term. Nobody really knows exactly what the reason is, maybe it’s a mix of everything, but Artemi Panarin is not interested in signing a long term deal with the Blue Jackets at this time. For those of you who are interested, Panarin is entering the final year of his contract at $6M AAV.
Now it’s clearly not a money thing at all. It’s not like Columbus is swimming in extra cap space right now but they already have most of their core locked up for the next few years. Atkinson is signed long term. Boone Jenner is signed for 4 more years. Seth Jones still has 4 more years on his deal as well. As long as Panarin isn’t looking to completely rob the bank with this next contract, Columbus can afford to pay Panarin and Bobrovsky when both of their contracts are up next year. So at this point, it just has to be a “yeah I don’t really want to be here” type of situation. But then yesterday, Panarin put out this tweet and it sounded like the end was near.
Would be kind of a weird move to put it out there in the public that he was going to meet with Kekalainen if he wasn’t planning on signing an extension with Columbus, right? If your plan is to skip town and sign with a new team, you pull the ol’ John Tavares and just go radio silent until all the paper work is signed and you’re far enough away to actually say something. But then the meeting happened today and… well… we’re just as clueless about how this is all going to end as we were before.
Now the same thing for a potential Erik Karlsson trade applies to Columbus and Panarin here. It’s not like a trade has to happen right now. It’s not like a trade has to happen tomorrow. It’s not like a trade ever has to happen at all. Panarin is still under contract with the Blue Jackets for this season and there’s not time limit on when he has to be dealt. And if the Blue Jackets decide to test their luck and see if they can go an entire season without giving him an extension in hopes that he changes his mind next summer? They can always do that, too. Of course the risk there is losing a 30-goal scorer and 80-point scorer for free. But it’s not like the Columbus Blue Jackets are forced to trade Panarin. With that being said…I’m not exactly sure what the point of this meeting today was if it only lasted for 45 minutes plus it was in France. If the leading point scorer on your team is meeting the with general manager in a country that neither of those guys live in about a potential new contract, you’d think that if it only lasted 45 minutes that would mean that it was nice and easy and everybody is ready to move forward together. But 45 minutes and still nothing besides Panarin not wanting to sign a long term deal? 45 minutes is like a quick lunch where everybody leaves as soon as the check is paid. No bullshitting around or anything afterwards. Just like “okay are we done here? Can I go now?”. Just seems like that can’t be a great sign for Columbus.